Jimmy Lai (黎智英), the 73-year-old Hong Kong media tycoon and democracy advocate, was yesterday denied bail after being charged the previous day under the territory’s National Security Law.
Lai faces a charge of collusion with foreign elements to endanger national security, apparently for posts he wrote on Twitter and interviews or commentaries he did with foreign media.
The Apple Daily, a newspaper owned by Lai, said he is accused of asking a foreign country, organization or individual to impose sanctions or engage in other hostile activities against Hong Kong or China.
Photo: Reuters
His case was adjourned to April 16 at the request of prosecutors, who said police needed time to review more than 1,000 posts and comments made on his Twitter account, the Apple Daily reported.
The newspaper said his charge sheet listed several foreign politicians who followed Lai on Twitter and cited commentaries he wrote and interviews he did with foreign media.
Lai, who was already being held on fraud charges after police raided his media company, was seen handcuffed with a chain around his waist as guards led him to a van to go from prison to court.
In an open letter to Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam (林鄭月娥) on Friday, US Senator Rick Scott called for the immediate release of Lai, along with others charged under the law, including Joshua Wong (黃之鋒), Agnes Chow (周庭) and Ivan Lam (林朗彥).
“Mr Wong, Ms Chow, Mr Lam, and Mr Lai are the faces of true bravery and are fighting for the freedom and liberties all Hong Kongers were promised under the 1997 handover,” the letter said, referring to an agreement China made with the British government to ensure the territory’s autonomy.
“They have not committed actual crimes, rather they have bravely dared to offend the fragile sensibilities of [Chinese President] Xi Jinping (習近平),” it said.
Carrie Lam has “failed Hong Kong and its citizens,” Scott wrote in the letter, saying that over the past two years, she has “proved to be nothing more than a puppet for General Secretary Xi and the Chinese Communist Party,” and has used the new national security legislation “to unfairly and unjustly prosecute men and women for standing up for freedom and participating in peaceful protests.”
“If you do not start standing for the freedoms the people of Hong Kong were rightfully promised, history will judge you harshly,” the letter said, calling on Carrie Lam “to finally do what is right, and choose instead to honor these brave men and women for their commitment to fighting for basic rights for Hong Kongers.”
Additional reporting by staff writer
The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government: Come work with us. The agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted on YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are “aimed at
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
SHIFT: Taiwan’s better-than-expected first-quarter GDP and signs of weakness in the US have driven global capital back to emerging markets, the central bank head said The central bank yesterday blamed market speculation for the steep rise in the local currency, and urged exporters and financial institutions to stay calm and stop panic sell-offs to avoid hurting their own profitability. The nation’s top monetary policymaker said that it would step in, if necessary, to maintain order and stability in the foreign exchange market. The remarks came as the NT dollar yesterday closed up NT$0.919 to NT$30.145 against the US dollar in Taipei trading, after rising as high as NT$29.59 in intraday trading. The local currency has surged 5.85 percent against the greenback over the past two sessions, central
US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on Friday expressed concern over the rate at which China is diversifying its military exercises, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Saturday. “The rates of change on the depth and breadth of their exercises is the one non-linear effect that I’ve seen in the last year that wakes me up at night or keeps me up at night,” Paparo was quoted by FT as saying while attending the annual Sedona Forum at the McCain Institute in Arizona. Paparo also expressed concern over the speed with which China was expanding its military. While the US
RSS